DRESS DOWN

Fashion at the convention was more Lilly Pulitzer than Carrie Bradshaw.

Flower-printed shirts, sequin vests, cowboy hats and flag regalia were all in vogue. Flashier guests adorned themselves in colorful pachyderms, producing more than a few pink elephants.

Some state delegations chose to make their fashion statements en masse. California delegates donned shades inspired by Schwarzenegger’s alter ego the Terminator. The Texas Delegation took things one step further, setting aside their lone-star individualism by strutting around the floor each night with navy jackets, khakis and—what else?—cowboy hats.

Not all the fashion was benign—a few delegates chose to vent their anger at John Kerry by covering themselves with Band-Aids marked with purple hearts.

—Jessica E. Schumer

WHY OH WHY OHIO?

Ohio’s Miami University may be the anti-Harvard.

“College Republicans outnumber Democrats four to one,” said Michaela Brandell, a junior at the 16,000-student public school and guest at the convention. “It’s the second largest group on campus, behind Campus Crusade for Christ.”

Toto, we’re not in Cambridge anymore.

Officials at their school’s College Republican club, most members of the Ohio delegation were on their first sojourn to New York. They said they were enjoying the city, but not the thousands of protestors that greeted them.

“There have been New Yorkers who have told us to leave,” said Brad Purnhagen, a senior. “I’m trying to express my opinion that [Bush is] a great Commander-in-Chief, and their only response is ‘Bush kills babies.’”

But one anecdote suggested that younger conservatives may be more socially open-minded than their older brethren. The Buckeye bunch said they enjoyed themselves at a party in Bryant Park Sunday night hosted by the Log Cabin Republicans, the gay and lesbian wing of the Republican Party.